Eideard

A 77-year-old Ukrainian man won a jar full of sour cream for coming first in a dumpling eating contest and then promptly died, local media reported on Wednesday.

Ivan Mendel ate 10 dumplings in half a minute to win first place and a one-liter jar of sour cream in the contest held in the town of Tokmak in the southeastern Zaporizhya region on September 18, Fakty I Kommentarii newspaper said.

Shortly afterwards, Mendel became unwell and died, according to local news websites.

Dumplings, called “vareniki” in the former Soviet republic, are a staple of Ukrainian cuisine and are often stuffed with a range of fillings from mushrooms to cherries.

WTF?

They didn’t say what the stuffing was for the contest? I prefer potato.

New Mexico — KOB Eyewitness News 4 has learned the Valencia County sheriff is looking at filing criminal charges against a county commissioner for something he did in one of our recent stories.

In our story that aired last Wednesday, Commissioner Donald Holliday used a heat gun to prove he found a cheap solution to remove Sheriff Rene Rivera’s name from 20 patrol vehicles. The sheriff, who recently lost his re-election bid to Louis Burkhard, had spent $5000 this summer to affix the personalized decals.

The sheriff says he discovered Commissioner Holliday’s move after seeing our story air on TV that night:

According to Rivera, the commissioner committed vandalism to county and public property and if he had known what Holliday was up to “more than likely [Holliday] would have gotten arrested.”

Rivera says since he is still Valencia County’s acting sheriff, he is the only one to authorize the removal of decals from patrol vehicles. He is now consulting with attorneys about filing charges against Holliday.

Meanwhile, Valencia County Manager Eric Zamora says the sheriff’s patrol vehicles belong to the county, and that the commission has discretion on how that property is used. Zamora says Commissioner Holliday was within his rights to remove the decals and does not believe the sheriff has cause to file charges.

Next week, someone will be arrested for letting the wrong cousin sweep the streets.

Sarah Palin blows fairy dust at Republican true believers
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Just one week after Sarah Palin stepped down as governor of Alaska, Alaskan lawmakers succeeded in overriding her veto of federal stimulus dollars.

The legislature has voted 45-15 in favor of overturning the former governor’s veto of more than $28 million in Recovery Act funds targeted toward energy efficiency projects.

The Alaska legislature met for a one-day special session in Anchorage. Heading into the vote, Rep. Mike Hawker, who voted in support of finally accepting the stimulus funds, anticipated a close decision, coming down to a couple of votes either way…

RTFA if you think you can penetrate the medieval curtain of ideology cloaking Palin’s brain.

State lawmakers dispute Palin’s objections to the stimulus money. In a letter to Alaska House Finance Committee Co-Chair Rep. Mike Hawker and obtained by CNN, the Department of Energy wrote that the Alaska legislature “does not need to adopt, impose and enforce a statewide building code” in order to qualify for the energy funds.

Palin originally threatened to reject more than $400 million of the state’s $930 million share of the stimulus package. Eventually Palin signed off on all but the three percent under consideration Monday by state lawmakers.

She would rather reject the portion of the stimulus that provides assistance to folks for weatherizing their homes – than deal with her fear of building codes. Another 14th Century mind in a 20th Century Republican skull.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is withdrawing staff and resources from Michigan in order to concentrate on other states where his prospects are stronger.

McCain had harbored hopes of winning the state, but three polls in the last week has had Democrat Barack Obama with a double-digit lead in the Midwestern state, which has gone to the Democratic candidate the last two elections.

“Certainly, Michigan was going to be a challenge for any Republican in this climate,” said the McCain campaign official.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the McCain camp was happy to have spent enough time and money there to force Obama to defend the state.

McCain got himself into trouble for saying the fundamentals of the U.S. economy were strong, a statement that was proved wrong by the Wall Street financial crisis. He also was perceived by many Americans as having lost his first debate with Obama last week.

Uh-huh.